Now, listen. you people better take this down: I'm the bodhrán player and I'm back in town. It's me lays down the rhythm for the diddery-I-de-dee. Ain't no flashy fiddlers any good without me. I can do it on the bodhrán. I can do it on the bones, I don't need no fancy drum-kit like the Rolling Stones. I'm a raker. I'm a shaker. I can make that white top hum. I'm the man who puts the iddery in the skiddery-I-de-dum. Just set up the liquor. Make sure there's enough, Then clear the decks for action. Let me strut my stuff.

Hear me talking. Let's go walking.

Now the fiddle's fine and dandy. It's the voice of Irish folk. And if you got a banjo handy, he can make the music smoke. Throw in a melodeon, you've gotta have a box, And you've the making of a session, but it isn't one that rocks, Till the goatskin hero hits it with his little rhythm stick. I'm the man supplies the heartbeat. I'm the dude that makes it tick.

He's the diddly-dee director. He's the dude that makes it tick.

In the pub and at the party, I'm the session's heart and soul. Hey, it's me who put the backbone into Irish rock 'n' roll. You can keep your fiddle player and your banjo-pickin' man, But the man who minds the goatskin is the leader of the band. When I hear them reels a-rollin', then it's time for me to start. I'm the star of syncopation. I'm the statesman of the art. Watch the dancers. How they dig it! They say, "Who's that heavy dude? He's no moron on the bodhrán. He's our Gino B. Goode." So I'm giving you the message and I've got it right, perhaps: The show ain't over till the fat man raps.

You're paying I'm staying.

Hope this helps! The text makes more sense if you remember it's Gino Lupari singing... or should I say rapping. He's the bodhrán player with FOUR MEN AND A DOG. He's extremely good, but is--how shall I put it?--"A gentleman of rather large proportions."

The funniest bit for me in the "4 Men and a Dog" recording was Gino shouting on the "play out" at the end. Listen for : "any chance of a Comhaltas Tour ?","big money on the Comhaltas tour", "no green jacket for me, havenae one tae fit ye". Great Belfast humour. Gino's possibly not a great fan of CCE.

Gino Lupari, I've never been in a position to see him live. There are a few videos about that give you a short glimpse of what he is and does onstage.

There was a very entertaining few minutes of him, with backup musicians (post-Four Men and a Dog) in a festival appearance somewhere. With his band, he did the darndest medley I've yet to hear, as it went through:

That album (Barking Mad) was a gem. Some great songs and some incredibly fleet-footed tune-playing, and of course Gerry O'Connor's brilliant tenor banjo. We saw them twice, once in Bude and once just up the road in Kilkhampton, in that early manifestation. Years later we saw Gino again in Exeter, with Ron Kavana, Brian O'Neill and the piper Tomas Lynch. We really had thought it might be the start of a new supergroup but nothing came of that lineup. Ron was our very favourite in those days and we saw him a number of times in the early-mid-90s.

It seems that Wrap It Up was written to be sung by Gino Lupari, although the writers were other people. The Belfast Telegraph identifies lyric author Neil Johnston as a Belfast Telegraph journalist, actually, rather than a member of the band; he is deceased now. Arty McGlynn had a lot to do with the production of the album "Barking Mad" which is something like twenty-five years ago now, but he was not a band member either, although he set Neil Johnston's lyric to music.

And then there is Mick Daly. The Belfast Telegraph is one of several sources which report that the "Dog," in Four Men & a Dog, refers to musician Mick Daly; the Telegraph goes on to say that in his native Cork, Daly was/is affectionately known as "the black dog," and that is how the band arrived at the name. I am not as certain, as I ought to be, that Mick Daly is one of the band members on the album "Barking Mad," but I presume he is, that being the band's debut recording, right? Anyhow, Daly was not long with Four Men & a Dog, ironically, he was one of the first to disappear from the lineup. Since then, Four Men & a Dog have had reunion concerts and appearances, however I don't know if Mick Daly was present for those.